Former Vice President Mike Pence said he had hoped former President Donald Trump would not be indicted over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, hoping that the public would be able to assess the former president.
Pence also reiterated his calls that “anyone who puts themselves over the constitution” should not be president. The comments came after Trump was indicted on four counts by a grand jury in Washington, D.C.
DONALD TRUMP INDICTED: THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S THIRD INDICTMENT
“I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I had hoped that this issue and the judgment of the president’s actions that day would be left to the American people. But now it’s been brought in a criminal indictment. And I can’t assess whether or not the government has the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what they assert in the indictment. And the president’s entitled to a presumption of innocence,” Pence said to reporters in Indianapolis.
He then reiterated that he did not have the constitutional right to overturn the election during the special session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Later on Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social to criticize Pence, claiming his former vice president “didn’t fight against Election Fraud.”
“I feel badly for Mike Pence, who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm, or loyalty from people who, as a member of the Trump Administration, should be loving him,” the former president said. “He didn’t fight against Election Fraud, which we will now be easily able to prove based on the most recent Fake Indictment & information which will have to be made available to us, finally – a really BIG deal. The V.P. had power that Mike didn’t understand, but after the Election, the RINOS & Dems changed the law, taking that power away!”
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Trump was indicted on Tuesday on counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after an investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.
The former president is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya at a courthouse in Washington on Thursday at 4 p.m.
